# Looking for thread: White light, blackout, car accident?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thread-white-light-blackout-car-accident/658375>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 15, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thread-white-light-blackout-car-accident/658375 "2013-05-15T04:10:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thread-white-light-blackout-car-accident/658375/1 "2013-05-15T04:10:26Z")

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My aunt got in to a car accident tonight after reportedly seeing a white light and then passing out. When I heard the news my first thought was “I just read about something like that on the Dope!”

Did I? I can’t find anything via search.

My aunt is “fine” right now, as it were. She’s in the hospital for tests. The “good” news is that she is a coumadin patient so it’s very unlikely to have been a stroke. The bad news is everything else.

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thread-white-light-blackout-car-accident/658375/2 "2013-05-20T14:39:14Z")

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My search-foo is weak. I have no thread for you.

I’ve heard the white light prelude to unconsciousness (near death experience) is combination of low oxygen & high CO2 concentrations in the blood. If she had a transient episode of shallow breathing, cardiac arrest or stroke it would be easy enough to see how that could happen. You said it wasn’t likely a stroke, but a well-running car puts out a fair quantity of CO2 per mile. Conceivably she could have had some kind of exhaust leak into the car, poor O2 saturation for some other reason and a drop in blood pressure and then boom boom out went the lights. At the hospital she wouldn’t come across as a stroke or heart attack patient, and if her car is totaled any exhaust problem would never be looked into.

How’s she doing now?

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-thread-white-light-blackout-car-accident/658375/3 "2013-05-20T15:51:47Z")

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Thanks for checking, **Great Sun Jester.**

I had forgotten that she has a pacemaker/defibrillator. I guess what happened is that her heartbeat became irregular and the defib did it’s job, hence the bright light. As to why her heart went wacky, that is still a mystery.

So whatever I thought I had read here, whatever cause someone else to see bright light and pass out, that probably doesn’t apply here.

My aunt is back home after 2 days in the hospital and doing well! Seems no worse for the wear! Luckilly she was driving in a slow commercial area, and ran softly into a tree.